OK, not strictly movie, but totally news, the BBC has announced the new Doctor Who, to take the role when David Tennant steps down next year, and his name is (drumroll please) Matt Smith.

Who, we hear you cry? Well, Smith has worked in theatre with the National and Royal Court, and has worked with former Who companion Billie Piper in two Philip Pullman adaptations, The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, and in Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also played a political researcher in Party Animals for the BBC.

At only 26, the Eleventh Doctor is the youngest ever, beating previous youngling Peter Davidson by more than 3 years.

"It was abundantly clear that he had that 'Doctor-ness' about him," said BBC Wales Head of Drama Piers Wenger. "You are either the Doctor or you are not. It's just the beginning of the journey for Matt.

"With Steven Moffat's scripts and the expertise of the production team in Cardiff behind him, there is no one more perfect to be taking the Tardis to exciting new futures when the series returns in 2010."

After the storming success of Tennant's Doctor, Smith has enormous, clown-sized Converse shoes to fill, but let's hope that he can succeed as well.

L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role?
fter checking Wikipedia, I stand co More

L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role?
fter checking Wikipedia, I stand co More

As this topic is being covered in another Forum I'll keep this short. As the show as run since the 60's and has fans all over the world-some that say the show went downhill after Tom Baker left, some who say Christopher Ecc is much better than Tennant. Some who love Peter Davidson and a few (not many) who adore Colin Baker, my point is when David gasps his last breath at Christmas, like all the other Dr's that have regenerated, it will continue and there is no doubt that Matt himsel More

L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role?
fter checking Wikipedia, I stand corrected and bow More

Yes i actually thought it was funny reading Empire being told absolutley bugger all about the next season of Lost.... made the 3/4/5pages feel worth it.... was there a buy season 4 on blu ray also :) More

L: The_Hat
L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role?
fter checking Wikipedia, I stand corrected and bow to your superior r More

L: rawlinson
L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role?
fter checking Wikipedia, I stand corrected and bow to your superior research, Rawlin More

L: Tech_Noir
Give us more caelen!
Get some interviews, etc.
sp;
There's a Jamie Bamber interview already on the site, Tech. Who, by the way, freaked me out by having a none-more-English accent (I mean, obviously; he's English. But still, 'twas weird). More

L: Helen OHara
L: Monkeyshaver
But Dr Who isn't a film, so has no place on the main page of Empire's website as a news item.
Sure it does - we review TV box sets after all. And the casting of a new Doctor Who, something that occurs every several years at most, IS news.
sp;
Give us more caelen!
Get some interviews, etc. More

TV does seem to get mentioned more often nowadays in all that is Empire . A while ago there was a piece on the 24 Redemption thingy , then a feature on Wired - or is it The Wire -, West Wing seems to be someones fav. at the Mag. and in this issue a few pages about Lost ...... what gives ? Do i need to stop buying The Radio Times ? More

L: Monkeyshaver
But Dr Who isn't a film, so has no place on the main page of Empire's website as a news item.
sp;
Sure it does - we review TV box sets after all. And the casting of a new Doctor Who, something that occurs every several years at most, IS news. More

L: The_Hat
...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old).sp;
According to research, the character of Sherlock Holmes was 'born' in 1854, he's first supposed to meet Watson in 1881. So why is Cumberbatch too young to play the role? More

L: horatio hornblower
L: Monkeyshaver
L: missphoenix
You may not like it - but 10-15% of the UK population does - so that's who. That's a lot more than most of the films that are talked about on here.
Dr Who isn't a film, so has no place on the main page of Empire's website as a news item.
se a while a go they reported on the new cast of stargate universes a television show and no one kicked up a stink then
ust have missed that news event then. More

L: Monkeyshaver
L: missphoenix
You may not like it - but 10-15% of the UK population does - so that's who. That's a lot more than most of the films that are talked about on here.
Dr Who isn't a film, so has no place on the main page of Empire's website as a news item.
se a while a go they reported on the new cast of stargate universes a television show and no one kicked up a stink then More

L: missphoenix
You may not like it - but 10-15% of the UK population does - so that's who. That's a lot more than most of the films that are talked about on here.
Dr Who isn't a film, so has no place on the main page of Empire's website as a news item. More

shitbags there are on Empire. First of all - the original Doctor Who series was for children - so why kick up a pissy fuss that the newer series are too? In fact the newer series are actually more diverse in their audience than any of the other series ever were. Second - who the hell are you all to say anything about a family show when you're the reason that stuff like Batman etc has done so well? Come on! That shit is just as childish as anything the DW series have done. Thirdly - if you don't More

Conversely - as The Doctor gets older, he's getting younger...
First impressions are that he's a bit too young - but I think the producers are playing safe casting someone that's going to appeal mostly to mums and young teenage girls. They could have cast a grumpy depressing old man as the Doctor - but would that bring in the ratings? Steven Moffat's scripts should at least ensure that the next season will be quality.... More

The Doctor needn't be an old git, but he shouldn't look like he hasn't shaved yet. This guy looks like his eyebrows were burnt off by a chip pan fire, and the fire spread to his face and was put out with a shovel. More

L: Mr. Chumba
Why are all you people saying you don't care if you're bothering to post that message? sp;
Honest to God, I hate people who use that "argument".
It's a forum. Not a blind faith board. People ] on forumst's what we do.
As for Who, it's pants. Sheer unadulterated pants. Badly acted, written, annoying, terrible sets, effects, everything. I cannot see the appeal in this show at all. And as for the "charm" of Dr.Who? Two words chief; Catherine Tate. More

Soprano's, West Wing or the Wire. And for intelligent sci-fi, then check out BSG!
Well you don't see any of them being legendary enough for Empire to mention a new actor being cast in them do ya! Eh, eh, eh. And none of them come close to having the charm of Doctor Who. And other gay bloke, if you're too adult for it then don't bother- you don't understand it and the magic has gone for you. Like Santa. Now leave it alone! More

Mr.Chumba if you are looking for intelligent TV shows, you really should be watching the Soprano's, West Wing or the Wire. And for intelligent sci-fi, then check out BSG! Apologies if you already watch these but if this is the case I can't understand why you would want to sit through even a single episode of Dr Who! More

Single most beloved character?! TV's most legendary character!?! Isn't it time for your nice warm Cybermen PJ's? We'd be delighted to piss off back to our movies, if TV would piss off back to the mags out there for them and leave Empire alone. Come on guys!! Leave this nonsense to SFX or Sci-Fi Now. As a full on 'movie freak', I'll leave you to your TV where you can hide behind the sofa while us grown ups head out to the movies. See ya!! More

Why are all you people saying you don't care if you're bothering to post that message? And you can't judge poor matt already! You've only seen his bloody picture! Why don't all you people who don't understand Doctor Who piss off back to your movies. TV series allow for more detailed plot developments and deeper characterisations. The Doctor is the single most deeply explored and beloved character ever created so the news of the next actor to play TV's most legendary chararcter- its big news. Po More

I think we should just wait and see. He doesn't have the same infectious charisma as Tennant (from that interview anyway) but we should give him a chance. Looks like him + Steven Moffat want to move us in a totally new direction. Which is good. Remember the shift in tone from Eccleston to Tennant? More

When it was announced that Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker all geeks went nuts and disagreed. So maybe its best to just wait and see. Then again when it was announced that Shia was cast as... Oh dear. More

the doctors supposed to have a touch of wisdom and knowledge, hes too young, it doesn't matter his age just the fact that hes looks too young as well. how old are they gonna have to have the assistant, 18 to keep up with him probably.
they should have used Chiwetel Ejiofor who was one of the finalists in the auditions, screw youngest doctor, no one cares, have 1st black doctor that's what i say More

Definately time for a change in Who, Tennant will be sorely missed but I will be pleased to see a change in writing, In every minute of every show I believe that the word Doctor or the Doctor is used up to 15 times. This works out close to 600 'Doctors' per episode. The only other time I can think of a show that used the same word so many times would be Star Trek Voyager using 'Anomoly' (aprox 250 per episode).
With Who we are up to season 5 now(Not counting the reams of doctors that have gone More

When they announced him as the new Who i was like what? You gotta be kidding!
Seriously not a very good choice, yes we'll wait and see but from the age and the way he
looks i think the producers are going in the wrong direction. He is ugly too with that massive forehead and jaw and looks like a rugby player. They could've cast him as
Frankenstein's monster but Dr.Who nah! Oh and the guy that cast him either fancied him or was severly embarrassed as he looked as though he was about to More

I don't get why people are coming on here saying how much they hate the show, you really don't have to watch it, and you don't have to fill up the comments board with generic closed minded comments! Doctor Who makes a change from the reality based, celebrity obsessed dross thats on TV at the moment, as for him not being 'pretty' well I am glad, would they rather Ant & bloody Dec be the Doctor and his companion instead? More

I don't get why people are coming on here saying how much they hate the show, you really don't have to watch it, and you don't have to fill up the comments board with generic closed minded comments! Doctor Who makes a change from the reality based, celebrity obsessed dross thats on TV at the moment, as for him not being 'pretty' well I am glad, would they rather Ant & bloody Dec be the Doctor and his companion instead? More

The last "young" Dr Who (Davidson) caused the greatest crash of viewing figures Dr Who has ever experienced - and ultimately started the decline and fall last time around.
I really hope that Matt has hidden talent - probably - really, really, really well hidden talents - because so far he comes across as a not particulalry excited to be here kid of the "dude" generation.
It's getting to be a shorter step from the wonder of Dr Who to the dross of kiddie shows Merlin, Dem More

Well that's all when and good, but Dr. Who's a bit rubbish really. It's camp, it's got that awful tv cgi thing going on, and it's a tad out-dated. Eccleston offered something new, Tennant was family fun but it's just not really that good a show, is it? No, it's not. And also, it's TV news. I think the BBC can plug itself, what with it's TV liscence assassins hiding in our sofas. More

I think we should just wait and see. He doesn't have the same infectious charisma as Tennant (from that interview anyway) but we should give him a chance. Looks like him + Steven Moffat want to move us in a totally new direction. Which is good. Remember the shift in tone from Eccleston to Tennant? More

never really been into the whole doctor who thing, but just thought i would say that i saw matt smith in a play about a year ago in london, i think it was ''swimming with sharks'' and it had christian slater in it as well (also helen baxendale come to think of it, though she had a really dodgy accent going on). the play being set in hollywood and exposing its ''darker'' side, i thought that smith was ok, but he was pretty much in the shadow of slater imo... More

There's one big problem with him, and that is that he's distractingly hideous to look at.
It's the sort of ugliness that would totally take me out of whatever fantastic plot was occurring in a Doctor Who episode...
I don't watch Doctor Who, I think it's bloody awful, but at least I can actually look at Tennant's over acting for more than 10 seconds without wanting to puke all over myself.
...Good luck Matt More

Never heard of him before but I like him. I love David Tennant but give this guy a chance. Well you movie-fans don't really get a say in this I'm afraid. I'm a massive Doctor Who fan as well as a movie fan so... My favourite of your comments is
"Dostor Who Gives a Shit?"
Um... About a 6 Million strong fan base and them on top of that about 10 Million casual viewers. And apart from that any newspaper reader who's British. Cleared that up? Fact. More

Horatio, I will end up seeing the spirit at some point however my point was, that Empire is a film website/publication and therefore it should prioritise film reviews (for film that are already on general release) over and above news articles about television programmes (no matter what the TV show). More

I'll admit I was pretty underwhelmed when I found out, but I was also underwhelmed when they replaced Eccleston with Tennant and I ended up loving him. Plus if they'd had John Simm would have probably involved some shit explanation about how 'The Master can also be the Doctor!' More

clearly bill bailey was the brave, experimental choice, but once again the bbc have played it safe and brought in someone bound to appeal to the new dr who fanbase of pre-teen girls in dalek pyjama's. real shame. i'm sure he'll be good, dont get me wrong, its just he appears to have the same charismatic personality as every other slightly kooky tv star recently, a bit jumpy, a bit geeky but with enigmatic hair and a way with words. still, at least they didnt choose some 3 foot quadraplegic belgi More

Not strictly movie? Not movie at all. This along with an article on LOST in the latest mag...come on guys, you're a movie mag - keep it that way.
By the way, doesn't Matt Smith look like the love child of Twilight's Robert Pattinson and Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein? More

This IS one of the Beeb's flagship shows.
'Who' generally has good storylines and quite good acting, but is often let down by it's script. I always felt the charc=acters were pretty well played and fairly believable.
What the BBC have done, like The_Hat said, is continued the trend of young actors in shows, which totally need older more experienced thesps.
It's interesting. All last week I bitched about how crap this new Demons show was on ITV, and I was even surprised at how bad it More

David Tennant was a very poplaur Doctor, the best epsodies had the brilliant John Simm in it and he seemed perfect enough for the role. But when he said he was quitting, shouldn't they just gived up there and then? This newcomer dosen't have a lot of charmsia and is far too young to be pulled down with this role. What if he only lasts for a little while and made the whole thing a flop? I'm not caring in any way but it's a shocker picking a new guy instead of the same people they kept pushing in More

...let alone Doctor Who? The casting of someone so young is typical of the modern BBC. Look at Merlin, look at Robin Hood, look at the new Saturday evening Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch - 32 yrs old). Does my head in. I'm sure Matt Smith is a fine actor, but he's too similar to Tennant, and do we really need The Young Doctor Who Adventures? I'm sure the seven-year-olds who love it won't mind though - anyone who'd left big school seemed ancient to me at that age. Also, what's this got to More

well i know lots of people of all age that watch doctor who so there you go
the choice is an interesting one im sure rather than waiting desperately to se a spirit review maybe you could see it yourself and make your own mind up the review will be bad anyway since most of the reviews already out are bad
mr stephen fry would have my choice or sean pertwee More

Is it just me, or does Matt Smith look like the Elephant Man? Of course they have to appeal to a certain demographic, but this guy just looks weird! And all this talk of an eleventh doctor - what about Peter Cushing in the movies? Does he not count? More

Given that the BBC is obsessed with youth and casting every roll with a ten year old this is hardly surprising. Anyway does anyone care?, I love SCI-FI therefore I can't stand the modern politicly correct made by a committee doctor who. More

Saturday night teen fodder,just the same as the pre-pubescent Robin Hood and Merlin.Stephen Fry would make a good 'un.Martin Clunes or the rumoured Colin Salmon.I was even up for a female Doc,Lesley Sharp would have been great,but that's not your target audience is it BBC?So predictable. More

i loved tennent but baker is my fav i reckon this is a good move for dr who as hes not that known he has a good look to him and watching the programme thought he would suit it really well. im made up i thought they would go for a name. More